Paramore turns pain to gain

By Joey Guerra

Updated 9:58 am, Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The new Paramore album is the band's most diverse to date. Photo by Pamela Littky.
Photo: Photo By Pamela Littky

The new Paramore album is the band's most diverse to date. Photo by...

Paramore scored the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart this week with its first new release in four years, ending Justin Timberlake s three-week run and beating out a new album by Brad Paisley. Photo by Pamela Littky.
Photo: Photo By Pamela Littky

Paramore scored the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart this...

Paramore's self-titled album, released by the label Fueled by Ramen, sold 106,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving the group - down from a quintet to a trio - its first No. 1.
Photo: Photo By Pamela Littky

Paramore's self-titled album, released by the label Fueled by...

Hailey, from the rock band Paramore, performs at Madison Square Garden in New York, Dec. 10, 2010. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Enrique Iglesias were among some of the top artists that turned out for the Z100 Jingle Ball, a Christmas special at the garden. (Richard Perry/The New York Times)
Photo: RICHARD PERRY, STF

Hailey, from the rock band Paramore, performs at Madison Square...

This April 8, 2013 photo shows from left, Taylor York, Hayley Williams and Jeremy Davis, of the American rock band Paramore posing for a portrait in New York. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Invision/AP)
Photo: Amy Sussman, INVL

Paramore addresses things pointedly, and immediately, on its first album in four years.

"Been through the wringer a couple times/I came out callous and cruel/And my two friends know this very well/Because they went through it too …"

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the band knows what singer Hayley Williams is referring to on kickoff track "Fast in My Car." Josh and Zac Farro left the band in late-2010 amid what initially seemed an amicable (if sudden) split. Things got ugly when the brothers took to a personal blog and decried the band's management, label and Williams' desire for a solo career.

"We were all best friends at one time. We just kind of grew apart," says Davis, who's been with Paramore since 2004, in Franklin, Tenn. "All of us gave up our lives for this band, and all of us give up being with our family and being away from home. There's not room for anyone that wants to get in the way of that anymore. Beyond that, they weren't happy.

"It seemed simple like that, and then it turned into a lot more. But it's been the best thing that's ever happened to this band because of the friendship that me and Hayley and Taylor have now and because of the music that we're able to write and all the opportunities that we're able to (pursue). Things like that happen in life, and you have to accept it when it comes."

"Paramore" the album, then, is a rebirth of sorts, right down to the eponymous title. The band's signature angst is intact, but Williams sings with a newfound emotion, built on layers of hurt, frustration and hope. Her voice pierces through the material with a sharp, wailing edge.

Producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Nine Inch Nails, M83) builds on the rock framework and incorporates new sounds, from No Doubt-influenced pop and '80s nostalgia to disco, funk and quiet breaks. A swirl of wit and humor also wafts through the surprisingly brisk 17 tracks.

"It's what we wanted, and I feel like that's what any bands wants, is to have some growth and take some unexpected turns and have people guessing. We definitely went into writing this record with the intentions of it," Davis says. "I think we started to realize we were going through our old routines of writing and trying to write the same way. It just was not working at all. It was very uninspiring. We needed to change our routine and change our style and let the music speak from other places inside of us.

"We're huge music fans, and we love so many different kinds of music that we wanted to show people that we are capable of more than just our rock stuff that we're comfortable doing."

That said, there are more jabs sprinkled throughout the album. Just a casual listen reveals much.

"I said, I'm done with all of my fake friends/Self-righteous pawns in a losing game," Williams growls during "Grow Up."

"I could be angry but you're not worth the fight/And besides, I'm moving on/I'm counting to 10, and I'm feeling all right," she declares amid an otherwise plaintive ukulele interlude.

"It's all real-life stuff. I think that's why a lot of people can connect with it and find hope and relate," Davis says. "When we were making this record, we were in the studio for between five to seven months on and off. Before that, we had been writing for a year. I feel like every step that we took helped us get past a lot of the old things that happened in the band."

"I think that every song that we wrote came through conversations that we had as new friends. We went through so much with this band, with ex-members and with everything. Finally, it feels like the walls have burst, and we had to make a new foundation of our friendship."

The personal drama, funneled into sharp lyrical testimonies, has so far proved a selling point. "Paramore" the album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 last week, the first to do so for the band. (First-week sales topped 106,000.) It's also started strong in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and the U.K.

"It's just cool, man. It's an honor, especially with this record. We're the most proud of this record, Davis says. "We are literally so excited. Every time I think about it, I'm like, 'There's no way that we're still No. 1.' I'll go on my phone to iTunes, and I'll look, and I'm like, 'Yes!' It's such an amazing feeling."

Paramore's 18-city tour kicks off with a sold-out show Thursday in Houston. It's a homecoming of sorts for Davis, who has family here. But Houston also triggers memories of a painful (literally) episode he'd rather forget.

"I kinda have a gnarly story from Houston," he says. "We were hanging out at our hotel. It was super sunny outside, so we were swimming and throwing a football around. I was running barefoot, and I stepped on this rock that was like an arrowhead, man. It cut into the bottom of my feet, and I was bleeding everywhere.

"The next morning I woke up thinking I was fine, and it was bleeding again. I started puking. I ended up having to go to the hospital there. There was, like, a bunch of gravel inside of there. It was so gross. That's my association with Houston."